Pa. lawyers pay judges travel costs

HARRISBURG — — At the Casa Marina Resort in sunny Key West, Fla., the rooms boast flat-screen color televisions, Monday through Friday delivery of the New York Times and scenic views from private balconies.

Guests are encouraged to "discover the island luxury and Caribbean vibrancy within the stylish hotel rooms of Casa Marina," reads the website for the Waldorf Astoria-owned property that bills itself as an "unrivaled destination amid the stunning natural environment of the Florida Keys."

And in February 2011, the Pennsylvania Bar Association footed the bill for state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille's roughly $2,240 stay at the hotel for its winter meeting, according to financial disclosure documents filed with the state courts system.

According to Castille, attending such meetings is a key part of his job, and lawyers don't get preferential treatment when they get into his courtroom just because they paid his way to a conference.

"I'm the leader of the third branch of government," Castille said. "The Pennsylvania bar is our associate. They have to speak up for us when our fellow jurists cannot."

Judges and justices are often asked to act as presenters at conferences and to participate in forums. But legal experts and government reformers question the propriety of judges accepting hospitality and travel from attorneys who someday may appear before them.

"If this is something for the judges to attend in their official capacity, then the taxpayers ought to pay for it," said Tim Potts, a co-founder of the government reform group Democracy Rising. "If it's not appropriate, they should not be attending on someone else's dime."

Each May, judges at every level of Pennsylvania's massive judicial system — from the seven justices on the high court to local district magistrates — are required to submit financial disclosure forms with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

The forms document the judges' direct and indirect sources of income, as well as their and their families' outside business interests and any gifts or honoraria they accept, as well as any travel and meals or hospitality they received in the prior year in excess of $650.

In all, five of the seven justices who sat on the court in 2011 — Castille as well as Justices Max Baer, Thomas Saylor, Seamus McCaffery and Debra Todd — reported accepting travel or hospitality on their disclosure forms.

Justice Joan Orie Melvin, who has been suspended from the high court pending the resolution of a public corruption case against her, did not list any travel expenses in 2011. The same was the case with Justice J. Michael Eakin.

When it comes to disclosure, states typically follow the American Bar Association's model code of judicial ethics, which encourages judges to engage in "extrajudicial" activities that include speaking and lecturing, said Cynthia Gray, director of the Center for Judicial Ethics at the American Judicature Society in Chicago.

The model code also permits judges to accept honoraria or other compensation. But they should stay away from any activity that would undermine, or appear to undermine, their impartiality, the model code reads. Any honoraria or expenses might also "be subject to public reporting," the code reads.

State governments also often hold judges to the same disclosure requirements as other public employees, Gray said.

Adam Skaggs, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, which focuses on voting rights and campaign finance reform issues and other court reform issues, said it's important for judges to avoid putting themselves in situations that could create even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Without speaking specifically to the Pennsylvania courts, Skaggs said judges should "be held to the highest standard of conduct because the legitimacy of the courts" depends on it.

On the other hand, judges are also expected to engage in education and outreach efforts to help increase the public's understanding of the judicial system. And in cases where judges travel to meetings of state and local bar associations, "it would be appropriate for them to have their travel expenses paid," Skaggs said.

Judges would need to exercise more restraint if they're asked to appear before groups representing specific constituencies in the legal community, such as the trial bar or criminal defense lawyers, Skaggs said.

Bruce Ledewitz, a constitutional law professor at Duquesne University law school in Pittsburgh and an outspoken critic of the way the high court conducts itself, said there's no reason for Castille and his colleagues to accept hospitality from lawyers.

"It's horrific, it's horrible," Ledewitz said, adding that there's nothing wrong with lawyers and judges meeting to advance the cause of justice, as long as the judges or the taxpayers — and not other attorneys — are paying the bills.